Mourdock: Republican Lugar Should Resign from Democrat-Leaning Organization

INDIANAPOLIS (October 13, 2011) – Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock called on Senator Dick Lugar to resign from the National Advisory Board of Campus Network  a division of the New York City-based Roosevelt Institute, a big government think-tank and training organization that is functionally a branch of the Democratic Party.

 The Roosevelt Institute’s own website proudly proclaims its liberal pedigree:

 “Through the Four Freedoms Center think tank, launched in 2009, the Roosevelt Institute incubates and promotes rigorous, progressive policy ideas and value narratives, and deploys the people who are their strongest proponents into the public debate.”

“This is an organization that is justifying wealth distribution through higher taxes and is glorifying the 'Occupy Wall Street' protesters. Why would a Republican US Senator be a part of promoting this agenda? After MSNBC declared Senator Dick Lugar to be President Obama's "favorite Republican," he has been proclaiming himself a born-again conservative.  His continued service on the board of this organization proves he has not seen the conservative light,” explained Treasurer Mourdock.

Lugar’s membership on the National Advisory Board of Campus Network is also notable for his presence

among a list of powerful Democrats and liberal ideologues including:

Jim Dean – Brother of former Democratic Presidential Nominee Howard Dean
Representative Rosa DeLauro – Far-left Democratic Congresswoman from Connecticut
Al From – Founding member of Democrat Leadership Council
Katrina vanden Heuvel – Publisher of progressive magazine The Nation
Representative Zoe Lofgren – Liberal Democratic Congresswoman from California
Dee Dee Myers – Press Secretary to former President Bill Clinton
Robert Reich – Labor Secretary to former President Bill Clinton
Simon Rosenberg – President & Founder of New Democrat Network
Rob Stein – Democracy Alliance, former advisor to the Democratic National Committee (DNC)
Jim Roosevelt – Great grandson of Franklin Roosevelt, Co-Chair of rules & bylaws committee of the DNC
Patricia Bauman – Director of Bauman Foundation, member of National Resources Defense Council
John Podesta – Chief of Staff to former President Bill Clinton
Robert Borosage – Head of the progressive organization Campaign for America’s Future                        

 The Institute’s website contains a potpourri of liberal causes including:

 A defense of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement
Wealth redistribution through higher taxes
Supporting Dodd-Frank regulatory bill & far-left Prof. Elizabeth Warren's Consumer Financial Protection Agency
Defending Obamacare
"Climate Change" legislation such as "Cap & Trade"
An attack on the School Choice movement

The Roosevelt Institute’s Campus Network describes itself as, “A national student initiative that engages new generations in a unique form of progressive activism…”

“Lugar’s presence and involvement on this organization’s board unmasks him as a willing participant and a supporter of big government. The fact that so many of the posts on the website are directly supporting the agenda of the Democrat Party should have caused the Senator to resign from the organization long ago.

"Hoosier Republicans, like me, who voted for Dick Lugar in the past, have wondered why he has not taken an active role in promoting the cause of conservatism across Indiana and the nation for many years. Now, we know why. No true conservative could be a board member of an organization like the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network.

 "Hoosier Republicans deserve a Senator who is a true conservative not one who is undermining the conservative cause,” stated Treasurer Mourdock.

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